When Rome was founded on the Palatine the opposite bank of the River Tiber was controlled by the Etruscans; it was only during the early Republican period that the Romans were able to expand their city to Trastevere (Lat. Transtiberim, across the Tiber). They fortified it with walls which started along the river and reached the top of the Janiculum, a long hill behind the new regio, the name they gave to the quarters of the city. The western gate of the walls became known as Porta Aurelia, because it was the starting point of Via Aurelia, the road linking Rome with the coast of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea and from there with France. In the XVIIth century, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII, Porta Aurelia was replaced by Porta S. Pancrazio, a new gate named after the nearby Basilica di S. Pancrazio. It was protected by two massive bastions. The view is taken from the green dot in the small 1748 map here below
which shows: 1) Porta S. Pancrazio; 2) Casino Riario which was demolished to make room for the 1895 Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi;
3) Villa Spada.

Today

The view in January 2010

Porta S. Pancrazio and the new walls surrounding Trastevere were built by Pope Urban VIII in just two years (1642-44), because he feared an imminent attack on the city by the Farnese and their allies; as a matter of fact this threat did not materialize. When eventually in 1849 a foreign army attempted to enter Rome through this gate, it was not that of an enemy of the pope, but the French troops sent by President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to restore Pope Pius IX at the head of the Papal State.The French were unable to take Porta S. Pancrazio and they eventually managed to enter Rome through a breach in the walls near Villa Sciarra; the gate however was almost totally destroyed and what we see today is an 1854 reconstruction.

Giuseppe Garibaldi is the most popular Italian national hero; he won the admiration of the Italian and international public opinion by his 1860 conquest of Sicily and southern Italy at the head of a thousand volunteers and also because he refused to be involved in petty politics. There is not a major Italian town without a monument to him; in Rome the area near Porta S. Pancrazio was thought to be the most appropriate location for a monument because Garibaldi played a major role in the 1849 defence of Rome.

The monument was built at the centre of a large terrace which commands an excellent view over Rome; it corresponds to the point from which Giuseppe Vasi designed his Grand View of Rome; the bronze group in the front of the monument portrays an episode of the 1849 defence of Rome: Luciano Manara at the head of a regiment of Bersaglieri attacking the enemy at Villa Corsini.The whole Janiculum (which is not one of the historical seven hills of Rome) retains memories of the fierce fight which preceded the entrance of the French troops. Busts of officers and soldiers who fought with Garibaldi were placed along the alleys leading to the monument (the bust shown in the image used as background for this page portrays Luciano Manara).

(left) Busts of "Garibaldini"; (right) today a more peaceful fighting goes on

(left) Portrait of Francesco Trifiletti with his sword and the medals he was awarded; (right) records of his campaigns: Sicily (1848), Rome (1849), southern Italy (1860-61) (courtesy of Mr. Tom Trifiletti)

The casino of Villa Spada is located near the fountain
of Acqua Paola; when the French troops made their way inside the city through a breach in the walls, the casino was the site of the last resistance by the Bersaglieri of Luciano Manara who was mortally wounded.The casino was rebuilt according to the original design; it is named after the Spada who bought it sometime before 1748. It retains an interesting inscription dictated by the Nobili, its first owners; it is written in the style of those on the ancient Roman tombs: Passer-by be aware that here where you see the house built by Vincenzo Nobili for the leisure of souls amidst natural beauties, Caesar Augustus built the aqueduct which bears his name and which comes from Lake Alsietinus, fourteen miles north of Rome and which ends in Trastevere. That's all. Be happy and goodbye. The reference is to some arches (now lost) of an aqueduct which supplied water to a naumachia (site for the re-enactment of naval battles) located near S. Cosimato.

View of the walls in the proximity of Porta S. Pancrazio; in the background: S. Pietro

The walk along the walls towards Porta Cavalleggeri offers fine views over the Vatican.

(left/centre) Coats of arms of Pope Urban VIII; (right) monument celebrating the recovery of the head of St. Andrew

This section of the walls retains at least ten small coats of arms of Pope Urban VIII and probably there
were more of them when the walls were built. They are all different from one another and they constitute a sort of catalogue of the different patterns which were used at the time.A small monument celebrates a very obscure event; in 1848 one of the most cherished relics kept in S. Pietro, a fragment of the head of St. Andrew, was stolen; it was found a few months later outside the walls near Porta S. Pancrazio. Pope Pius IX built a monument which is almost identical to that built by Pope Pius II near Ponte Milvio.

Overall view of the Vatican State; from its western end (the tower behind Porta Pertusa - far left) to S. Pietro; the image shows also the bell tower of S. Maria delle Fornaci

In many parts of Rome the historical walls are surrounded by modern blocks of flats; luckily town planners have forbidden building on the former farms located outside this section of the walls; the rule has known some exceptions, but overall it has been complied with.